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Is your eGiving program successful? Answering this question is more than just dollars and cents.

Here are five ways to look at your program and how it’s impacting your church:

eGiving Report Card

Participation: If you’ve had an eGiving program for more than 3 years, nearly 50% of your donating households should be using it. If not, your church members may not know about your program, or they may find it difficult to use.

Growth: Whether you’ve had a program for a day or a year, there should always be annual stewardship marketing component that encourages program growth. Existing givers can be asked to increase their gifts. Current donors who don’t use eGiving should be invited to join your eGiving program. And new church members should be offered eGiving as the preferred giving option.

Consistency:What if your church was closed for a week due to a weather incident – would you be worried about finances? With a successful eGiving program in place, you shouldn’t be. A strong program will protect you from ups-and-downs throughout the year, and assure your church with consistent cash flow for operating needs. If you don’t have that predictability, your eGiving program isn’t working!

Reporting: Does your program give you access to monthly data that can help your office project future donations, and better budget for your ministries and services? If your provider doesn’t keep you updated, there’s no way you can be sure that eGiving is reaching its potential for your church.

Partnership: If your provider is just another vendor you use, you don’t have a solid foundation for eGiving. In a successful program, your provider should be a partner that is invested in the financial wellbeing of your church – one that handles ALL aspects of eGiving for you, taking the workload off you and your church staff and giving you more time to focus on ministries. This includes stewardship promotion, credit card decline oversight and customer service.

Remember to never let your eGiving program go on “autopilot.” By always analyzing the performance of your program AND your provider, you can make sure that eGivingis strengthening your offertory, bringing your church consistent cash flow, and making life easier for you and your staff.